"Stop your yammering, the both of you. Grell, we are long past any use for secrets...if you think the only thing that matters is your quest, and that you're the only one it matters to, we should have let you go on your own a long time ago. And Drusilla, if you could stop the flow of venom from your mouth once in a while, you might actually hear something useful.

"Grell is right -- if the wolves go past the horses, it doesn't matter if they're invisible or not. And unfortunately, my best guess is that the orcs will come straight this way -- they may be about on some other business, but going back along the route we've taken seems the most practical.

"Drusilla, for her part, clearly has a range of powerful magic well-suited to this situation, and this plan of letting them see only half of us seems good.

"Horsemen, go now, and we will follow once our spells are complete."

If he hasn't yet, Barik casts Longstrider on himself.
posted by Scholeologist at 3/27/2004 11:22:00 AM

"A brilliant plan. Let's do it. The troops will likely have outriders -- pull back to a safe distance. We need to be far enough away that the wolves won't smell the horses, and the scouts won't come too near. I'll keep an eye out here, to see which way they're going. If they start to turn this way, I'll run back to you. If you see me coming on the run, start casting your magics."

I hide as well as I can, peeking over the ridge at the orcs, keeping eyes and ears peeled, especially looking for any individuals separated from the main body.
posted by Scholeologist at 3/26/2004 01:31:00 PM

OOS: (As usual, this is my interpretation of the PH, and Scott probably knows things I don't): Barik's base move is 20'. In combat, the horses can move significantly faster than him (a double move action for Barik is 40', while for a horse [or human, or anyone else here] it's 60' or more.)

Out of combat, Barik walking slows the party down by (at least) 1 mph, or 8 miles/day. Barik can go twice as fast if he hustles, in which case he doesn't slow us down at all. But, after the first hour, hustling causes nonlethal damage and fatigue. The nonlethal damage adds up quickly: Barik can't hustle all day. Even at full health, he would drop unconscious before 7 hours were up.

Fatigue would mean that Barik couldn't run or charge, and his Str and Dex would effectively be lowered by 2. The nonlethal damage will get completely healed if he gets any healing, or at the rate of 6/hr (Barik's level) if he doesn't. (I don't know all the details about this -- I assume he's got to be resting, or at least not hustling, to reduce the nonlethal damage.)
posted by Scholeologist at 3/25/2004 12:51:00 PM

"To hell with your horses, Linnam -- I'm not some cripple who needs to be carried around."

Barik will hustle on foot for the rest of the day (40 ft move/4 mph, which is faster than the horses' walking speed.) He does not care to speak to Linnam or Drusilla, and isn't very interested in talking to anyone else either.
posted by Scholeologist at 3/25/2004 10:22:00 AM